Group pursues medical marijuana in Ohio

COLUMBUS — A national group that helped legalize marijuana in Colorado has set its sights on legalizing medical marijuana this fall in Ohio.

Staff with the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that pushed marijuana laws in several states, think they can learn from ResponsibleOhio's failed $20 million campaign to legalize medical and recreational marijuana last fall. Nearly 64 percent of voters opposed the ballot initiative despite an expensive effort from marijuana farm investors.

"It’s quite clear that voters do not support anything that could be perceived as a monopoly or oligopoly," Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Mason Tvert said. In November, Ohio voters also approved a proposal from lawmakers to ban monopolies in the state constitution, a thinly veiled attack on marijuana investors.

Marijuana Policy Project did not invest in ResponsibleOhio's effort to legalize marijuana in Ohio, but the national group didn't oppose it either. Still, the Marijuana Policy Project wants to distance itself from the failed marijuana campaign. Marijuana Policy Project won't be working with ResponsibleOhio leader Ian James or his political consulting group, Tvert said.

In fact, Marijuana Policy Project is working with a group that co-managed the campaign to defeat marijuana legalization in 2015, Columbus-based Strategic Public Partners.

So, don't expect another marijuana mascot like Buddie 2.0.

The national group's proposal would allow patients with serious medical conditions to purchase marijuana from stores or grow their own at home if their physicians approve medical marijuana as a treatment option. Ohio would issue licenses for businesses to grow and sell medical marijuana to patients with state-issued identification cards, according to the Marijuana Policy Project's website.

The group is hiring an Ohio organizer for its campaign to pass a constitutional amendment on medical marijuana this November. The move comes after former members of ResponsibleOhio said the group wouldn't try again in 2016.

Ohio voters, at least in polls, seem much more interested in legalizing medical marijuana than the recreational drug. An October poll showed 90 percent of Ohioans supported legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. That was significantly higher than the percentage of Ohioans ready to legalize marijuana for personal use: 53 percent.

Lawmakers, motivated in part by concerns about another ballot initiative from marijuana investors, are talking more about the medical benefits and risks of marijuana. ResponsibleOhio co-founder Jimmy Gould and Chris Stock, author of the failed ballot initiative, recently joined a task force run by House lawmakers. The group will hold its first meeting Jan. 28.